The Heritage City on Brisbane’s doorstep, Ipswich, has cracked the two million visitor mark according to the latest Tourism Research Australia figures, which show that Ipswich had 2,011,000 visitors in the year ending September 2019.
That’s 14 consecutive quarters of positive growth in visitor numbers for Ipswich and 28.3% growth in total visitation figures year on year, placing Ipswich in the top two fastest growing regions in South East Queensland. Ipswich also led the way on international visitors in South East Queensland with 24.8% growth, the fastest of any South East Queensland region. Day trip visitors were also up by 38.7%, while the figures showed we had a slight drop in domestic overnight visitors year on year when compared to the same period, for the first time amidst a year of positive growth across all sectors.
The stats show that there are more New Zealanders visiting the heritage city, with food and visiting friends and family rounding out the top reasons to visit. One of the city’s biggest attractions the Orion Lagoon saw just over 300,000 visitors in the reporting period. Events continue to be a driver for day-trip and overnight visitors into the region with A Day Out with Thomas, Great Houses of Ipswich, the Flight Centre cycle Epic and Powercruise all held in July-September quarter.
Ben Pole, the GM for Community, Cultural and Economic Development said “the city destination plan 2019-2023 developed in consultation with stakeholders continues to guide the city’s plans to grow the visitor economy and it’s good to see the early results starting to pay off”.
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